In February of this year, the red cedar log Steve Brown and his apprentices were working with was full of cracks. By the end of early October it had blossomed into a successful dugout canoe.<\/p>\n
Sealaska Heritage President Rosita Worl said the tree strikes her as a symbol of Tlingit culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just canoe carving. It symbolizes our culture, all the things that are important to us as a people. Transportation, movement of our people within the region, the gathering of food,\u201d Worl said. \u201cAt one point in time, our culture, we stood tall, firm and strong\u2014 and then we had some difficulties that came with the changes that came to our society, and that log had many problems\u2026. Other people might have given up, but under the instruction from Steve Brown they continued.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project was a partnership between SHI and the Sitka National Historical Park. Carver Steve Brown, an adopted member of the Kiks.adi, led the project; Haida artist T.J. Young, Tlingit\/Unangan artists Nick and Jerrod Galanin, and Tlingit artist Tommy Joseph of Sitka worked on the boat as apprentices.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to think that those guys, they represent our culture,\u201d Worl said. \u201cThey dedicated themselves for several extra months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steaming<\/strong><\/p>\n Oct. 3, the day of the steaming, the canoe started out 36 inches wide (a little wider just below the gunnel, or upper edge of the boat.) By the end of the day, the canoe measured 52 inches across, Brown said. He estimates eleven people will fit inside.<\/p>\n During the expansion, kids sang songs in Tlingit, community members and other carvers helped carry the loads of rock and cut firewood, and elder David Katzeek, leader of the Shangukeid\u00ed (Thunderbird) clan, and Worl led a blessing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really felt like a community event,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was an awesome feeling sitting there.\u201d<\/p>\n There will be another ceremony, Brown said when the canoe is turned over to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, where it will find its home.<\/p>\n The rocks used for the expansion were from Kruzof Island, where Mount Edgecumbe is located. Brown called them \u201cthe Cadillac of rocks\u201d since they don\u2019t break under heat.<\/p>\n They carried rocks back and forth with baskets made of rebar, lowering the hot rocks into the foot of seawater inside the boat, switching cooled rocks for hot ones.<\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty of doing it that way\u2026 is the weight of the water, the temperature of the water, the weight of the rocks \u2014 all work together to make this process happen,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n The traditional methods, he said, seem to make the expansion happen naturally.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a difference that will be visualized in a way no one present believes has happened before \u2014 via 3D modeling.<\/p>\n 3D modeling of the canoe<\/strong><\/p>\n A technician from Juneau came out to scan the canoe prior to steaming and will also scan it after.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter it\u2019s all doctored up, a person will be able to watch the whole shape of the canoe morph,\u201d Brown said. \u201cTo my knowledge, it\u2019s not been done before. It\u2019ll be a fantastic teaching tool.\u201d<\/p>\n It was Nick Galanin\u2019s idea to do the 3D scan. He also recorded a video of the steaming via an overhead drone, which is available on the Capital City Weekly\u2019s Facebook page, as well as on Galanin\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s just a great potential resource,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The scan could be used for many things, he said, but the real value is for education.<\/p>\n \u201cThat scan before and after will provide a really valuable reference of those transformations that take place,\u201d Galanin said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s talk of making fiberglass versions of this from the scan,\u201d he said. \u201cThat would be great, too.\u201d<\/p>\n He added \u2014 as did others who mentioned the possibility \u2014 that it shouldn\u2019t detract from carving the canoes the traditional way. He himself would love to be involved in another dugout, and the other carvers are planning that, too.<\/p>\n Galanin has also been filming throughout the process, and plans to put together a short film about it, probably after its initial launch.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been quite a journey,\u201d said Galanin. \u201cIt\u2019s been a completely new learning process for me, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n Next steps<\/strong><\/p>\n Now, they need to install thwarts and benches, the capability for a sail, and take care of other details. Last, they\u2019ll paint; they\u2019ve been asked to put both a raven and eagle design on the canoe, Brown said.<\/p>\n The canoe ended up taking several months longer than they thought it would, but what with all the carvers already-established artists working on other projects and pitching in when they could, it all worked out fine, Brown said.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody pitched in their utmost, really, when they were here,\u201d he said. \u201cThey not only did a great job but made it fun to work together. You can\u2019t ask for better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n It was her first time attending a canoe-steaming ceremony, Worl said, and she doesn\u2019t plan for it to be her last.<\/p>\n SHI decided to pursue a canoe project after a 2015 gathering of more than 30 Southeast Alaskan artists agreed that canoe carving was likely the area\u2019s most endangered traditional, indigenous art form.<\/p>\n It\u2019s something that, with this canoe and the two spruce canoes Wayne Price and apprentices Zack James, James Hart, and Steven Price this year carved in Hoonah, has \u201cabsolutely\u201d changed, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got\u2026 young guys now \u2014 apprentices \u2014 who are going to be able to go out and carve canoes,\u201d Worl said. \u201cThat\u2019s great progress. We want to make sure it\u2019s available in all of our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more about the start of the project here<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Read more of this week’s Capital City Weekly:<\/strong><\/p>\n Seaweed farming begins in Southeast<\/a><\/p>\n Moose butchering: Local foods project turns to game<\/a><\/p>\n